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How Democrat fund-raiser scored Dean knockout

Tactical goal: The point of the operation was to peel off Dean's liberal supporters in the crucial Jan. 19 Iowa caucus, which was a must-win for Dean. The Jones-commissioned survey of 800 likely Iowa caucusgoers by pollster Paul Harstad, taken after Thanksgiving when Dean was riding high, showed that a whopping 77 percent of Dean's backers identified themselves as liberal. Testing several issues, the poll determined that most of his supporters knew Dean for his opposition to the Iraq War, and they were not aware of where he stood on other issues dear to die-hard progressives: that Dean was endorsed eight times by the National Rifle Association; backed NAFTA, and favored cuts in Medicare spending Republicans had proposed in the mid-1990s.

Timing: The first spot, on Dean's NRA endorsements, ran Dec. 5-12 in Iowa. The second ad ran Dec. 12-19 in Iowa and hit Dean on his NRA backing and NAFTA and Medicare stands. By this time, Jones did not have much money left.